


CEOs Need Friends Too!

by Starscream_CharSiew



Series: Yogscast Pacific Rim AU [1]
Category: The Yogscast
Genre: Friendship, Gen, M/M, Pacific Rim AU, Pacific Yogs, is not actually shippy but is suspiciously so
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-14
Updated: 2014-10-14
Packaged: 2018-02-21 04:23:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2454587
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Starscream_CharSiew/pseuds/Starscream_CharSiew
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pacific Rim AU. William Strife, CEO of Strife Solutions, is sent to the Yogdome to improve and repair a jaeger they found a few months prior. Parv is the pilot of said jaeger and has way too much free time on his hands since he is missing a drift partner. Bored Parv forces himself into Strife's life, somehow creating the most unlikely pair of friends and drift partners ever.</p>
            </blockquote>





	CEOs Need Friends Too!

**Author's Note:**

> Some people wanted me to write this, so I did. I hope it's ok...
> 
> Also, if you didn't watch PacRim, you just need to know that a wormhole thing, 'the Breach', appeared at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean and big scary monsters that wrecked cities, 'Kaiju', came out of there. To combat this, people created giant robots, 'Jaegers', that require two people to pilot together through a neural connection thingy, called 'drifting', which basically means that you connect two people minds and they move and think together. Then they beat the crap out of giant monsters in giant robots. Yes.
> 
> Cross posted on Tumblr

The helicopter had landed.

"The CEO of Strife Solutions is arriving today," Xephos had told him a few hours ago. It was also Xephos who had brought him out here to witness the landing. Even though he had never met the man, there was no missing the helicopter. It was black, just like the other helicopters in service at the Yogdome, but had a maroon tail and red-tipped rotors. But what really made the helicopter so glaringly obvious was the large 'Strife Solutions' logo on its side. What colour was the logo? That's right, red.

Once the rotors began to slow, a door on the helicopter's side slid open. First he saw a black and shiny dress shoe step out, followed by perfectly ironed black trousers and another shoe. Then more red. A red shirt, partially obscured by a dark grey waistcoat. Really now, who still wore waistcoats in this day and age? This man truly was a stuck-up CEO.

_Perfect._

Things were getting boring at the Yogdome with no one to annoy and no missions for him since he was missing a co-pilot. The only person who ever let him stick around long enough to get annoyed was Xephos, and irritating the same guy over and over again was getting rather stale. An arrogant CEO was just the guy he needed to annoy the hell out of.

Parv watched for a while longer as the man, the man whom he assumed was William Strife, walked a few meters away from the helicopter before being greeted by KirinDave himself. The sunglasses that had hidden the CEO's eyes were then removed and perched atop his head, held up by his short hair.

He wanted to meet this man. He needed to meet this man so he could annoy him. He had to meet him. Preferably now. Yes. Now was a good time.

Parv faintly heard Xephos behind him, telling him to come back, before he was out of earshot.

Before anyone could stop him, Parv had made his way over to the two most powerful men in the Yogdome and forced his way in between them. It did not matter that he had interrupted KirinDave mid sentence. It did not matter that the two men had probably been talking about important business stuff. Neither did it matter that he had just invaded both their personal spaces. Parv now had the man's attention.

"Hello, my name is Parv!" he began with a grin so wide it should have split his face in half, "And I came from a womb!"

The man being addressed, William Strife of Strife Solutions, furrowed his brows and his mouth opened and closed a few times, as if he had wanted to say something, but nothing came out. He was shocked. He was flabbergasted. He was completely and utterly baffled by the fact that this man had the nerve to do that.

But, before Strife could get his words sorted out, Parv was at it again.

"You know what?" he said with what sounded a lot like a little giggle, "You look just like a little fishy when you do that."

Strife's mouth opened again and, this time, words came out. "Dave, just- Just who is this idiot?" Being slightly shorter than Parv, he had to tilt his body slightly to look around the man in order to see KirinDave again.

"Hey! My name is Parv!"

KirinDave simply sighed and gently pushed Parv out of the way with one hand. "Well, he," he paused for a moment to rub his temples, "is one of our pilots. But he lacks a drift partner."

Strife scoffed. "I can see why."

"Hey!"

But, before Parv could go on, Xephos had finally managed to squeeze past a few people and grabbed the man's arm. He gave KirinDave and Strife an apologetic look before dragging Parv off and back into the Yogdome. Parv protested, but allowed himself to be dragged along.

"I apologise for that," KirinDave said after watching Xephos and Parv disappear from view. "But, now that that is out of the way, shall we head over to the hangar?"

Strife nodded and followed KirinDave into the Yogdome once he had begun walking. For most of the walk, he remained silent and listened to KirinDave talk and introduce him to the different parts of the Yogdome as they walked past them. They even went past the K-science department, which was an adventure on its own with its 'eccentric' scientists on duty there. How they managed to have something explode in their lab, flinging kaiju parts all over the place, astounded him. No wonder KirinDave was upset with them all the time. He would have to keep it in mind to stay away from the two men named Ridgedog and Bebop.

It seemed to take forever, but they eventually made it to the hangar, the hangar that housed the jaeger Strife had been sent to repair and improve. It had been found just a few months prior with most of its parts gone or damaged beyond repair. Soon after, parts had been ordered from Strife Solutions and most of them had already been fixed on and installed. Strife was here to help with the more delicate work, such as some of the more delicate circuitry and calibration.

It was a beautiful jaeger, really. It was tall and thin, lanky even, making it sleek and agile compared to some of the other jaegers he had helped build and design. Its colours had been elegant as well. Black and white. But Strife much preferred it to be black and red. And, since he was the one supplying the parts, black and red it had become.

"You never told me who this jaeger belonged to." Strife commented as he looked up at the jaeger before them.

"Well..." KirinDave began, seeming to hesitate for a moment, "his name is Alexander. Alexander Parvis."

Strife simply nodded before something finally clicked and he frowned once more. "Wait. You don't mean that imbecile, 'Parv', do you?"

All he received as a reply was a nod along with a small, sympathetic smile.

"Great. Just _great_."  
\---

It was the next day at lunch when Strife saw Xephos again. He saw the older man sitting opposite Honeydew and Lomadia, both of whom seemed to be rather upset. As he made his way towards the table, he could hear parts of the conversation.

"You can't just eat that! It's got to be bad for you!" he heard Honeydew exclaim.

"But it was already in my food! I would have eaten it anyway!" Xephos retorted.

"Xeph," Lomadia finally said, "it was a caterpillar in your broccoli. A bloody _caterpillar_!"

Oh. This again.

"If it helps, I once saw him pick a butterfly off a flower and eat it," Strife said as he finally made it to the table and sat down next to Xephos. He allowed himself a small smirk when the dwarf-like man was left speechless and simply stared at Xephos with his mouth hanging open.

"Xeph... How could you?" Now Honeydew looked truly hurt. 

"Well, I-"

Before it could go on any longer, Strife interrupted him. This was more important.

"Xephos," Strife began, "I need to know how to stay away from that idiot named Parvis."

It took the poor man a while to recover form the shock. Then he laughed briefly and replied, "Well, then you are at the wrong table, friend."

"What? Why?"

"Parv has his lunch with us," Lomadia chimed in.

No. _No no no no no no no_. He needed to get away. He did not want to have to deal with that idiot again. No. Never again. Never ever ever ever.

Then he heard a gasp behind him.

No.

"Strifeykins!"

It was too late.

Before he could get up, a lanky man clad in a black t-shirt and cargo pants plonked himself down beside him, sitting so close that he had no choice but to scoot a little closer towards Xephos. Now he was trapped.

No.

"Did you miss me, Will?" He certainly did not. "I'm sure you did! That's why you're here!" 

"No, Parvis," he replied with a glare. "I came here to see them," he continued, gesturing towards the table's three other occupants, "not you."

"Nah," the black-haired man said, waving it off, before shoving a mouthful of food into his mouth. "Arhm shur' you mih'ed me," he then said with his mouth full. Rude.

"Well," Strife said after a while, completely ignoring the man stuffing his face beside him, "I have work that needs to be done and I must get going." He said his goodbyes to Xephos, Lomadia, and Honeydew, before standing and very carefully, and awkwardly, trying to extract his legs from the long bench at the table. He managed to lift one leg out successfully. One. The other was latched onto the moment he brought it up.

"Awwwww, Will... Don't go..." the lanky man whined, hugging Strife's leg. "You haven't even had your lunch yet!"

"I," Strife attempted to shake the other off his leg, but to no avail, "will not be having my lunch with you." He shook his leg some more, only to have Parv wrap himself around his leg even more tightly, as if his life depended on it. "Plus I have work to do."

"Please, Will? Pretty pretty pretty _pleeeeaaaaaase_?"

"No!"

With one final, and rather violent, jerk of his leg, Strife managed to free himself and quickly stormed off. He could hear Xephos and Honeydew sniggering not-so-discreetly and could practically feel all the other eyes on him as he left.

Great. Just _great_.  
\---

 _Stealth_.

Stealth was key.

Careful observation, patience while waiting for an opportunity, light and soundless steps. Stealth was key.

Well, it was not really stealth considering the fact that everyone was watching him like he was crazy or something. But it kind of was since the man he needed to be hidden from had not seen him yet. Yes, his stealth was working. His prey was oblivious.

With a few more needlessly exaggerated, but quiet, steps, Parv finally made it. There was no way he could be closer to the oblivious man in front of him without touching him.

"Hey, Strifeykins!" he yelled right beside the poor man's ear.

An undignified yelp, a very violent flinch, interrupted progress, and the clatter of some expensive tool falling to the floor. Success.

The CEO had then spun around immediately, all puffed up and one hand raised. As if he were about to yell, but quickly decided against it and bent over to pick his expensive doohickey up off the floor. He frantically checked it once it was in his hands and let out a sigh of relief when there was nothing wrong with it. Then the thingamabob was put down on the workbench and the glare was directed straight at Parv.

Parv responded with his trademark grin.

"Alexander Parvis. It has been two hours since lunch. Two hours. Why are you bothering me again?" the shorter blond growled.

"Cos I was sure you would miss me," Parv replied matter-of-factly, still grinning. "Plus I heard you were fixing my jaeger."

Strife continued to glare, but said nothing. Checking on his jaeger was a legitimate reason for Parv to be there. Instead, he turned around to get back to work.

"If you disturb me anymore, Parvis, I will _accidentally_ calibrate your jaeger so that you will punch yourself in the face."

"Nah, you wouldn't do that to me!" Parv simply laughed it off. But he remained unusually quiet for a while, watching Strife work. In fact, he was so quiet that it was getting unnerving. Really really unnerving and worrisome. Eventually, it got so unnerving that Strife had to put his fancy tool down and turn around to stare at the other again.

"Well?"

"Well what?" Parv actually looked surprised when Strife turned around and spoke to him. So he had not planned this.

"Have you nothing to say? No 'why are you ignoring me strifeykins pay attention to parv'?"

Parv snorted in amusement at Strife's impersonation of himself and asked, "Would you like me to?"

"No."

"Then don't complain." The ridiculous grin was back.

Strife looked at Parv suspiciously, but turned around to continue with his work. It caught him off guard, but was not unpleasant and shocking like the loud 'greeting' he had received, when Parv spoke again.

"You like red, don't you?"

"Hm?"

"Red. Everything you do has red in it. Your helicopter, your dressing, your new parts that went on my jaeger..."

It was true. He was rather fond of the colour. Even today, he wore a red shirt and white trousers.

"You don't like it?"

"No, no. She's rather pretty in red and black."

Parv remained surprisingly quiet the rest of the afternoon and Strife got his work done. They went their separate ways to the CEO's relief. But of course Parv managed to find a way to irritate the CEO again later in the day.  
\---

The same pattern repeated day after day. Strife would get up in the morning, ready to be productive and to have a Parv free day. But Parv always managed to find every opportunity to track the blond man down and annoy him to no end. He hated that good-for-nothing jaeger pilot to the core. And yet, once in a while, Parv would be rather quiet and they would manage some meaningful conversations. It was weird.

But there was one place Strife could be alone. When none of the jaeger pilots and trainees were using the training area, he would be there. That was the only place Parv had not found him at yet.

Clad in a simple t-shirt and baggy track pants, the CEO picked his Bo staff off the floor and began his practice on the semi-padded floor. This staff of his was special. It was his first gift from Lomadia. He had it reinforced once Strife Solutions had been set up hoping that the staff would never break. He wouldn't know what to do without it.

He went through his routine flawlessly. He had been doing it for years. He could close his eyes and his muscle memory would still execute the sequence with impeccable precision.

The routine went on for a few minutes, before Strife finally brought it to an end with a mid-air flip and hit the padded floor with the end of the staff, a resounding _thump_ echoing through the room. Panting, he ran a hand through his sweat-drenched hair and used his staff as a support as he slowly stood up. But when he finally looked up, he had not expected to see Parv standing at the doorway, wearing his usual training attire, a black singlet and loose pants, and a towel around his neck, but completely shocked with his eyes wide and mouth hanging open.

Still panting, Strife said nothing and waited. And he waited for almost a full minute before Parv's non-existent brain could finally comprehend the sight before his eyes and he finally spoke.

"Wooaaaahhhh... Will! You never told me you could fight!"

"Well, maybe I didn't want you to know so that I could practice in peace," the CEO replied. His breath had steadied and he walked to the side of the room to put his Bo staff down and pick his towel up, quickly wiping the sweat off his face. "Plus, no one was ever meant to see me like this."

"What? You mean without your perfect hair and not wearing one of your expensive red suits?" Parv asked with a laugh.

"Yes," Strife replied with a frown, "I have a reputation to keep."

Parv just laughed it off and made his way over to the other. "And here I thought you were just some posh CEO with a cushy life. You should have told me you fight. We could train together!"

"And why would I ever want to train with _you_?"

"Because you hate me and would like to beat me up," Parv replied with a grin. "Not that you would succeed though."

Strife scoffed. "Please. If you knew who taught me to fight, you wouldn't be saying that. And, since you know I hate you, why do you always come looking for me?"

"Because you hate me," the lanky man replied matter-of-factly.

"What?" Parv really was crazy, wasn't he?

"Because you hate me," Parv repeated. "I made it my mission to annoy you since the day you stepped into the Yogdome. So it makes sense that you would hate me. You hate me for who I am. Everyone else hates me for what they think i did. They hate it that I am here and will probably ruin the whole mission again."

That made absolutely no sense to Strife. And when he continued to look at the other with confusion, Parv continued.

"My team mates and drift partner, Kogie, Leo, and Sparkles*. Everyone thinks I caused their death and hate KD for bringing me back. They hate me for what they have heard of me."

Strife hummed in acknowledgement. It still made no sense to the CEO but it was an explanation. And he did feel a little bad for the other man. Just a tiny little teensy bit.

"Anyway," Parv's solemn expression was suddenly gone and replaced by his usual grin. That terrifying, face-splitting grin, "let's fight! I bet you can't beat the invincible Parv!"

"Oh, you are not invincible." Now Strife was smirking. "Lomadia taught me all I know," he said as he picked his staff back up and passed one used for training to Parv.

Parv's eyes went wide for a moment, shocked. "Lomadia is tough. She was known for beating all the trainees into a pulp on the day of her recruitment, right?"

"Yep, that's her," Strife replied smugly.

They both took their positions on the padded section of the floor and the first round began. Strife went a little slower, letting Parv warm up. Once the other's moves had gotten a little faster, Strife went full out and knocked Parv to the ground before bringing his staff down to his neck, stopping just before contact was made. He laughed at the lanky man as he slowly opened his eyes that had been squeezed shut.

"I told you I was better."

"Awwww, c'mon Strifeykins. I was just getting started!"

Strife got off the other so that he could stand and round two had soon begun. Now that Parv had warmed up and his guard was up, Strife had to admit, he was pretty good. It gave the CEO a challenge. But still, he was better at this form of martial arts and had won again.

The third round was interesting. Parv was learning and he managed to beat the CEO after a minor mistake had been made. This was actually pretty fun.

They went at it for pretty long, the clatter of their staffs filling the room. But Parv finally gave in after a while and collapsed onto the floor, panting and laughing and obviously not getting enough air.

"You are pretty good, Will!" he finally said after his lungs had filled with enough air.

"I think I was better than 'pretty good'," Strife replied with a smile and sat down beside the collapsed man. "I obviously trashed you."

Parv just laughed some more. "Maybe you did, maybe you did. But you wouldn't beat me in a fist fight!"

"Oh really?"

"Yeah! Let's try that tomorrow!"

Strife then nodded, smiling in amusement.

They sat there for a few minutes, or laid there in Parv's case, not saying a word. Strife assumed Parv was just trying to catch his breath. True enough, once Parv's breathing had calmed and he sat up, he broke the silence.

"So, you never told me how you knew Xeph, 'Dew, and Lom."

Strife looked up from his feet and at the other's sweat-covered face, contemplating whether he should answer that question or not. It was not something he wanted others to know.

"Well, Strifeykins?"

"Stop calling me that."

"I won't stop if you won't tell me! Strifeykins, Strifeykins~ Willy Willy Strifeykins~"

"Alright, alright!" Wow that was annoying. "Enough. I will tell you."

"Yay!"

"But you must promise never to call me that again."

"Promise!" the black-haired man replied, blatantly crossing his fingers as he did so.

Strife just sighed. This man was hopeless.

"Well, I, uh..."

"Well?"

"Xephos and Lomadia basically raised me. My family, or my whole town actually, was destroyed in a kaiju attack when I was thirteen. Xephos and Lomadia were stationed there to kill the kaiju, and they took me in when they found me."

"Wow." Strife could see the surprise in the other man's eyes. "So Xeph is like your dad!"

"He's not that much older than me! They are more like my elder siblings if anything."

Parv then nodded.

"Anyway, they brought me back and took care of me. Xephos taught me about jaegers and Lomadia taught me to fight in case any of them didn't make it and I had to take their place. But i was not drift compatible with them so I went into jaeger engineering instead. I studied hard and started my own business, hoping to one day end the kaiju threat."

"Oh oh! Your posh 'Strife Solutions' thingy!" Parv interrupted enthusiastically.

"Yes, Parvis. Now let me continue."

Parv grinned and nodded again.

"I met Honeydew a few years later when Lomadia had to retire after her spinal injury and Xephos got a new drift partner. He's like my cousin now I guess."

"Wow, Will. Wow. You must be like the ultimate badass CEO or something." Parv finally said once Strife had finished.

Strife just scoffed and shook his head. "No, I am not."

"Yes, you are!" Parv replied and clapped the other man on the back, evidently a little too hard since quite a lot of air was knocked out of Strife's lungs. "Anyway, same time, here, tomorrow. No weapons. You game?"

Strife allowed himself another small smile and nodded.

"Yes!" Parv exclaimed triumphantly. "You won't win again! I guarantee it!"  
\---

Strife and Parv did meet the next day. And, true enough, Parv won. Despite being skinnier, but a little bit taller, than Strife, Parv was better at hand-to-hand combat. They both decided that training like that was more beneficial and challenging than training alone and thus agreed to train together in the future. Strife even begrudgingly admitted that it was rather fun.  
\---

A few weeks had passed since Parv and Strife started training together. This time, Parv had somehow made his way into the LOCCENT. Why anyone let him in was a mystery. Strife was trying _very hard_ to calibrate one of the new consoles there, but Parv was making it impossible. His infernal humming and tapping of his foot on the hard, metallic floor were making it impossible. Parv made everything impossible.

Enough was enough.

"Parvis," he growled, looking up from the console and turning around to face the lanky man, "don't you have somewhere else to be?"

"Nope!" Parv replied cheerfully. "I have no drift partner, remember? I'm a free man!"

"Well then, why don't you go be useful and find yourself a drift partner?" the CEO asked, glaring at the other.

"I don't want any of those guys in my head," Parv replied with a pout. "But," now he was grinning again, "I would gladly have you as my drift partner.

Strife scoffed. "Me? A jaeger pilot? And _your_ drift partner? Hah! Not going to happen."

"Actually," now they both looked up to see KirinDave at the doorway, "Will, you should give it a try."

"What?" Strife knotted his brows in confusion and displeasure, while Parv's grin got impossibly wide and he started jumping up and down on the spot. "I have seen you two spar. I think you two would make a great team."

"Yes! Yes! Will, look, even KD says we should be drift partners!"

"No!"

"Friend, you should give it a try." Oh great. Now Xephos was at the door too. Strife just groaned and shook his head. "No, seriously," Xephos continued, "I have never seen either of you so attached to someone before. You two should give it a try."

"I am not attached to him," Strife mumbled.

"Come on," KirinDave tried again.

"No."

At some point, Parv had latched himself onto the CEO's arm and was shaking him, chanting "Please, please, please, please," over and over again. Strife still said no.

"Aw, come on Will," Xephos said after a while and made his way over to the two of them. "Do it for me? You practically owe me your life! Take it as a favour you owe me."

Strife glared at Xephos, but said nothing. He really could not argue against that. Plus, his arm was getting pretty numb.

"Fine. I'll do it," Strife finally grumbled.

Everyone in the room then went deaf temporarily because Parv's celebratory noise was far too loud. Especially Strife since he was right next to the incompetent demon spawn.  
\---

"You two ready?" KirinDave asked. Strife looked to his side to see an excited Parv who was bouncing in his seat and nodded. KirinDave then nodded and gave a new string of instructions to the technician sitting at the console.

They were in the simulation room, Strife in one chair and Parv in another. Their heads were encased in what seemed to be metal helmets with wires leaving out the top, those then connecting to the console KirinDave stood behind. Beside KirinDave were Xephos, Lomadia, and Honeydew, all of whom were there to watch. A few other technicians and jaeger pilots were present, curious to see the CEO of Strife Solutions and the infamous Alex Parvis attempt a drift.

"Ok," KirinDave spoke again. "Initiating neural handshake in 20, 19, 18..."

The countdown had begun. Strife shut his eyes and took a deep breath. He was sure this was not going to work. There was no way he could be drift compatible with that idiot. And, even if he was, he was needed at the Yogdome for repairs and improvements and things. There was no way they would send him out onto the battlefield with this imbecile.

"...3, 2, 1."

All of a sudden, he felt as if the whole world lurched forward, as if his mind had been torn from himself and forced into another.

Memories. Memories flooded into his mind. But they were not his. He saw the world as a child. He saw three other children, Sparkles*, Leo, and Kogie. How did he know that? He must have been in Parv's mind...

Then the world lurched again. Everything was in fast forward. The next thing he saw was Parv in a jaeger with Sparkles*, the very same jaeger he had been repairing. He was yelling. He could feel the panic flood through him. Across the communicator, he heard Leo and Kogie scream and the connection died. He saw their jaeger get ripped apart by the kaiju before him. The next thing he knew, his senses were flooded with pain. Sparkles* had been ripped out along with half the jaeger. Pain. Guilt. Regret. Sorrow.

The rest of the memories went by quickly. He felt the happiness Parv felt when with him, when sparring with him... But no matter the memory, the guilt was there, Parv blamed himself for the death of his teammates. That overconfidence Parv exuded was but a mask to deceive others and himself. He wanted to believe that he was the best, that he had not killed his friends. With everyone finding his arrogance annoying, he had no friends. With no friends, he settled with annoying others for company. That's why Parv was annoying. That's why Parv was the way he was. With this new understanding, he almost forgave Parv for his pranks and disturbances. Almost.

Then he felt it. _Friend_. Parv saw him as his friend. William Strife of Strife Solutions did not have friends. He had acquaintances, he had business partners. But, no, Parv was his friend.

To Parv, he was a friend, the only man Parv trusted enough to allow into his head.

_Friend._

Then the world lurched one last time and he was back in the simulation room. "The drift was successful!" he managed to hear. But he didn't need to hear it. He could feel it. He could feel himself connected to Parv, as if they were one being. He looked to his right to see Parv grinning back at him and smiled. Maybe being drift partners was not such a bad idea.

**Author's Note:**

> Whoo! That was long... Probably doesn't make much sense heheheh... Sorry... But I tried


End file.
